6.  The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
7.  The applicant claimed that he was born in 1991. The Government contested that and claimed that he was born in 1988. He currently lives in London.
8.  On 12 December 2003, the applicant’s older brother, SH, arrived in the United Kingdom and made an application for asylum based on the risk to him as the son of a high-ranking member of the Communist People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (“PDPA”). That application was refused by the Secretary of State on 19 December 2003.
9.  On 11 May 2004, SH’s asylum appeal was allowed by an Adjudicator of the then Immigration Appellate Authority (“IAA”). The Adjudicator accepted that SH’s father had been a prominent, high-ranking member of the PDPA who had been in touch with its highest officials and who had also been a member of the central committee responsible for policy making. He also accepted that SH’s father was “known” by armed factions; was without any existing political party or tribal protection in Afghanistan; was living outside Afghanistan; and would be at risk upon return. The Adjudicator noted that SH had, in later years, made some contacts and forwarded documents to others on behalf of his father and that a powerful person with political influence had occupied the family land for a considerable time. He concluded that the evidential basis for an historical and present day interest in SH had been established. In the circumstances, the Adjudicator found that the applicant’s brother fell “fairly and squarely” within the protection category set out by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (“UNHCR”) as a relative of a former PDPA member, and that there were substantial grounds for believing that he would face a real risk of ill-treatment contrary to Article 3 of the Convention if he were to be returned to Afghanistan.
10.  As a result, the applicant’s brother was granted refugee status in the United Kingdom by the Secretary of State.
11.  The applicant arrived in the United Kingdom on 3 July 2009 and was arrested by the police as an illegal immigrant.
12.  On 6 July 2009, he claimed asylum and claimed to be 17 years of age, giving his date of birth as 30 July 1991. The factual basis of his asylum claim was similar to that of his brother, SH, and he also relied upon his father’s previous position as a high-ranking member of the PDPA. He claimed that his father had been a close friend and the personal doctor of several prominent politicians, including Dr Najibullah (the President of Afghanistan between 1986 and 1992) and other Government ministers. He claimed that, in 1992 when the communist regime had collapsed, his father had been forced to flee Afghanistan for the Russian Federation. He claimed that his father had continued to be politically active in opposition to a number of warlords and people involved in the current Afghan Government, including Generals Dostum, Fahim and Sayat who he had known personally. The applicant claimed that, after his father had left Afghanistan, his family had been forced to move to Khost in eastern Afghanistan where they had lived for over a decade using different surnames so that they would not be identified. Approximately six years ago, his family had moved to Kabul for seven or eight months. During that time, members of the National Security Intelligence had come to their home on two or three occasions. On the last occasion, they had arrested his uncle who had subsequently been detained for a year. They had also tried to arrest the applicant’s brothers. The family had therefore moved to stay with another uncle, but whilst there, one of his brothers, FH, had been shot and killed in 2003. The applicant had travelled to Pakistan with his mother and a younger brother where he had lived for five or six years before travelling alone with an agent to the United Kingdom via Iran, Greece, Italy and France.
13.  On the same date, two social workers from Liverpool Social Services assessed the applicant as being significantly over the age of 21 and in the region of 25 years of age. In coming to that conclusion, they stated that they had considered his physical appearance, general demeanour, account of his life in Afghanistan and Pakistan and his experiences during his travel to the United Kingdom.
14.  On 4 August 2009, his application for asylum was refused by the Secretary of State, who considered that his account was vague and contradictory, and that it was not plausible that he would not be able to recollect any of the significant details of his life in Khost, his journey to Pakistan or the activities of his father. In particular, it was not accepted that his father was still politically active because it was implausible that the applicant would not be able to recollect any details of his father’s activities given that he had remained in relatively regular contact with him. It was also not considered to be credible that the Afghan authorities or any warlords would be interested in the applicant given, inter alia, the fact that he had not been politically active himself; the length of time that had passed since his father had left Afghanistan; and the fact that he had lived in Afghanistan without problems for ten years before leaving. It was also noted that his father had voluntarily returned on one trip to Afghanistan, undermining his claim that his father was at risk there due to his high profile. His claim that the death of his brother, FH, was related to his father’s political activity was considered to be entirely speculative. His account of events in Kabul was rejected because the details of the same were vague and because they contradicted the account that his brother had given at his appeal hearing in 2004. His credibility was considered to be undermined by his failure to claim asylum in Greece, Italy or France. Even taking his claim at its highest, it was considered that he could relocate within Afghanistan to avoid any problems from warlords.
15.  On 14 August 2009, the applicant’s appeal was dismissed by an Immigration Judge at the then Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (“AIT”). The Immigration Judge acknowledged that the applicant’s brother’s asylum appeal had been successful in 2004 because the Adjudicator had accepted that his father had occupied a position of prominence and a high-ranking position within the PDPA. Nevertheless, the Immigration Judge referred to the later AIT country guideline determination of SO and SO (KhaD – members and family) Afghanistan CG [2006] UKAIT 00003 (see paragraphs 24-25 below) and found that there were differences between the claims of the two brothers, including the fact that the applicant had never been involved in any political activity, whilst his brother had carried out some activities on behalf of their father which might have drawn the authorities’ attention to him. In addition, the Immigration Judge did not accept that their father continued to be politically active or to have a high profile in Afghanistan, because the only evidence of any political activity related to events over 17 years previously, prior to 1992, when the applicant had still been a small child, and politics and personnel in Afghanistan had changed since that time. Even if his father had continued to be politically active, the Immigration Judge did not accept that the Afghan authorities or warlords would have any adverse interest in the applicant, given his lack of political profile and education; his age on leaving Afghanistan; the fact that he had only been a small child when his father had been politically active; and recent political developments in Afghanistan.
16.  The Immigration Judge also made a series of adverse credibility findings against the applicant due to his vagueness when giving evidence; his failure to claim asylum in safe countries en route to the United Kingdom, including Greece, Italy and France; and the discrepancies between his account and that of his brother including, inter alia, the level of contact that had taken place between the various family members since their respective departures from Afghanistan and whether or not one brother FH had been shot. In particular, it was not accepted that SH would not have mentioned during his own asylum application that one of their brothers had been shot had such an event occurred. Even if his brother FH had died, the Immigration Judge did not accept that he had been killed by the Mujaheddin, given that the applicant himself had stated that he did not know who had killed him but thought it was the Mujaheddin. The Immigration Judge considered that the applicant had used his age as a convenient cover whenever he did not know the answer to a question even though he had been age-assessed by social workers as being between 20 to 25 years of age. The Immigration Judge considered that it would have been expected that the applicant would have discussed matters with his family and would have had some awareness of his father’s political activities.
17.  Finally, the Immigration Judge did not accept that the level of indiscriminate violence in Afghanistan, and in Kabul in particular, reached a level such as to constitute a real risk to the applicant.
18.  On 19 August 2009, his application for reconsideration was dismissed by a Senior Immigration Judge at the AIT because there had been no error of law.
19.  On 17 September 2009, his application for reconsideration was dismissed by the High Court because the appeal determination did not disclose any error of law. The findings of fact and the findings in relation to credibility were matters for the Immigration Judge having, as he had done, properly directed himself in relation to the law. The reasons for his findings were clear and carefully expressed.